GUIDE / STRATEGY
How not to run out of credits
The most common mistake is not overpaying for a player: it is not noticing you did until it is too late.
Split the budget first, not during
On 500 credits, a split that works is 40 for the goalkeeper, 100 for defence, 150 for midfield, 210 for attack. It is not a law: it is a starting point that tells you, halfway through, whether you are on track or already over.
The value of that split is not its precision, it is having written it down. People who enter without one do not buy badly: they buy their first five players well and everyone after that badly, because they find out too late that the credits are gone.
The reserve you must not touch
If the squad is twenty-five players, every player you have not bought yet costs at least one credit. With twelve empty slots, twelve credits are already committed even though you have not spent them.
It sounds obvious and it is forgotten every time. It always bites the same way: you reach the last three defenders with two credits and have to take anyone at all. Always set aside the number of slots left, and treat only the rest as spendable.
When to push and when to walk away
Push when the player is the last of his tier. If three equivalent forwards remain after him, every extra credit is a gift: you will get one of those three anyway, and later they will cost less because everyone has less budget.
Walk away when you notice you are raising so as not to lose, rather than because the player is worth it. It is a recognisable feeling: you are watching your opponent instead of the list. At that point he is setting the price, not the market.
The advantage of waiting
In the first thirty minutes people always overpay. There is excitement, everyone has a full budget, nobody wants to end up empty-handed. The same players cost about thirty per cent less an hour later.
The drawback is that the best names go early. The middle way: choose two or three players you are willing to pay full price for, and wait on everything else. Anyone who pays full price on eight players does not finish the auction.
The last twenty minutes
This is where seasons are won and lost, and almost everyone arrives tired. If you kept credits back, this is where you find starters at backup prices because nobody else can raise.
If you are short, the only thing left is to be first to say a number: the decent players left go to whoever calls first, not whoever bids most. It is worth reading the list ten minutes before the end and deciding in advance who to go for.